UPDATE: A winner has been selected! Contacted the winner, waiting to hear back :)
Dear Readers,
I’m excited to announce that my promised monthly giveaway contest officially begins with this post! (If you’d like to be the first to read new posts and to learn about contest updates, please subscribe to my feed.)
Why I am I doing this? Why am I being so generous? Because there are way too many awesome things here in Japan to hoard to myself. I had to find a way to share!
Barring unforeseen circumstances, I will announce the giveaway contest rules along with the details of a corresponding-themed prize package on the first of each month. I may throw in a pack of Japanese candy or some random things into the box at last minute, so please let me know if you have any special requests and/or food allergies.
The winner will need to provide their mother’s maiden name, social security number, and a valid US credit card number + three digit secret code. JUST KIDDING! I will, however, need their name and mailing address which will be kept strictly confidential.
If they’re agreeable, I’d like to interview the winner and feature them in a future post. I would consider including links in the post to the winner’s blog, favorite cause, home business, etc.
Winning contestants may not enter my subsequent monthly giveaway contests for a year following their win. In other words, if you win in September, 2009, you can’t enter again until October, 2010.
September Contest Rules:
Name my mid-90s Toyota Estima Lucida minivan.
It’s a 4 WD tank, deep eggplant/plum in color with a grayish blue interior. (Color update, Sept. 2, 10 a.m. viewed in bright sunshine: The color is really weird. It’s kinda black, but it has these flecks of sparkle in the paint that make it look brownish/purple. ) The steering wheel is, of course, on the right. It has moon roof over the front seats and a large sunroof over the back passenger seats. The sliding passenger door takes a little oomph to open. This van seats eight, including the driver. Although it’s not too sleek, this van gets us to where we need to go. We use it to travel through the mountains, in all kinds of weather, while the kids (okay, and sometimes me, too) sing at the top of their lungs to Weezer. While we haven’t had any food spills to add extra character, the van does contain a lot of sand at the moment from frequent trips to the beach this summer.
September’s Prize:
An Automobile-Themed Care Package
-One portable, two-person picnic-sized tatami mat with a built-in floral carrying case. (See the photo with Tab for size of the mat unfurled.) Store this mat in your car for impromptu picnics and to impress your friends.
-Car wash cloth
-Car dust cloth
-Red, stainless steel travel mug
-“Deep Forest” laser carved air freshener “Please enjoy a fragrant time with this wood air freshener.”
-“Baby On Board” “I Am Safety Driver” sign
-“Maternity On Board” “I Am Safety Driver” sign
Items will be wrapped in Japanese newspaper.
Have fun! Tell your friends. Send me a gmail @mrsalbrecht if you have any questions or suggestions for future contests/prize packs. If you’re new here, check out the Welcome!
Sans Hubcaps Super Fun Ultra Fantastic Mobile Family Transport Vehicle
That is a Toyota Previa. We used to have one. It was definitely the second best minivan we’ve had.
Gabe Stevenson, I fart in your general direction. :P
Actually, the people of Japan like to cheat the government out of taxes. As was the reason for creating happosho “beer” , the Lucida is a smaller, lower taxed, version of the Previa. I can’t imagine this minivan being any bigger. Just the idea of parking a Previa makes my hands sweat.
From Wikipedia:
The color is really weird. It’s kinda black, but it has these flecks of sparkle in the paint that make it look brownish/purple.
I think you should name it Gonzo. Kinda goofy but still fun AND easy for the kids to yell out. :)
Elmer.
its a benevolent, enjoyable sounding name.
we used to have a neighbor who’s name was elmer. (in florida) he grew oranges, and his wife’s name was alice.
unfortunatly for both of them, he looks..(or lookED) like your minivan.
(i think the best way to name things is to use whatever pops into my head when i see it..)
p.s. i NEED a japanese picnic mat.
Albrecht+wagon=Albrechtagon
snort snort
or Albrecht+van=Albrechtan
i think you should call it “BULLET”. It seems to fit the color and the shape. It looks like it would fire through just about anything because of its slanted front end and the color sounds like what a bullet would look like after being fired.
Have fun with this, it is a fun contest.
Elly told me about this contest yesterday, and last night I had a dream that your van was called “The Moose Caboose”.
So, there’s my vote….
It may not seem very original in english, but in Japanese it sounds pretty cute… Kazuku karuma…I can hear your grapefruit eater running around singing ZOOM ZOOM Kazuku Karuma..
So that is my chose. My husband was born in Yokahama 53 years ago in Nov. I would love to take him for a picnic on his new mat.
Because of Jesus, Bobbie
PS More importantly I am so glad you are back and it seems feeling back to your old self???? Hope so, you were missed.
Bobbie,
Thanks for the name idea!
I am feeling back to my old self! Thanks for noticing :) It’s amazing how we don’t even realize how sick we were until we are better. Coping mechanism, I suppose.
Almost a year post-op :)
<3
I think you should name it Nelly :)
I think, since you will be sailing around Japan with your crew, in the service of the Commonwealth of Heaven, that you should christen your “ship of the line” the Indefatigable. It’s a little cumbersome, so it may be shortened to Indie, with no loss of distinction.
Why not call it Lucy? Short for Lucida. Happy trails.
I wanted to return to your blog today, because my oldest son has visions of visiting or living in Japan one day! ;)
His suggestion for the name of your car is “Mach 5” (pronounced mock-5), like Speedracer’s car. He thinks that it is the perfect name because you have five children!
:)
“To the Mach 5!”
I think you should call it SJL’s TEL. Or the Telly. I got the name from your initials, and then Telly is just a play on that. I would like the Japanese stuff because my neighbor recently got a Japanese exchange student. I would LOVE to be able to give him candies from his home!
I’m so exited! All of these are great names! I’m thinking I will read the list of names to the kids with camera rolling and then have them vote.
Hi Sarah,
When Isaw the picture I thought of Black Thurder.
Shirley Clark
How about “Ichi Van” ? Ichi ban is “number one” in Japanese and it’s a play with ban and van. You could even paint a big 1 on it somewhere!
We had fun naming our RV after watching the movie of the same name but we did not use “Big Rolling Turd”!
Also, in our small town people name their homes and display the name prominently somewhere, it is so cool.
Lots of fun names here! I know which one I would vote for! Your kiddos will have fun with this!
I like the name Yoshiko, actually my friend from Japan is named that so it would be kinda fun to christen it with a Japanese name.
Oh pooh! I’m afraid I might be a day late (and in today’s economy, a whooooole lot more than a dollar short!) on this reply. I didn’t even think till just now that you’re a day ahead of us here in the U.S. (that’s right, right?). That being the case, I didn’t know if the contest ended the 24th U.S. time or Japan time. Does that make any sense?
I’ll stop babbling now and get on with it.
Anyhoo, I’ll go ahead and throw these out there. I showed my kidlets this post tonight when they were getting into bed and they had a list of suggested names for your van. (Ours has been dubbed “Bessie the Magic Bus”. . . partly because the previous owners said her name was Bessie. We just came up with the ‘Magic Bus’ part.)
In no particular order, here were their recommendations:
The 5 y.o. came up with Cute Van and Japan Van. She then went on to say “We should ask the mother if it’s a girl van or a boy van!”
The 7 y.o. said “If it was skin color, I’d name it Tushie.” (Aah, out of the mouths of babes!!) Then, she came up with White Fire and The Swarmy Fire (I dunno. I just type ’em. lol)
The 9 y.o. labored severely over what names to suggest. She kept trying to shush everyone else so she could think. She finally came up with Sushi (since you’re in Japan, she said that would be very fitting). But her favorite name was Suki. Kinda like Sushi. . . but Suki.
According to the 5 y.o., the baby tried getting in on the name recommendations too. Baby was laying near on the bed babbling and kept saying what sounded like ub. So the 5 y.o. said the baby had decided Ub was a good name.
Oh, and one final name that was thrown out, by I’m not sure who, as everyone started talking at once, was Bob. But it must be said in a very exaggerated, drawn out manner, as in Baaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhb.
P.S. You could always use Bessie the Magic Bus too. I’m sure the kidlets would get a kick out of knowing there is a Japanese counterpart to their fave means of transportation. :)